While I love my Logitech MX 518 to death, I'm wanting to try out something different. While I've not typically had good luck with Razer peripherals, much of that came down to software - buggy drivers on both the Mac and Windows side. The 2013 version of the Orochi looks promising, but user reports of Synapse 2.0 have been mixed at best. Putting aside any discussion of "Mouse DRM" is Synapse 2.0 at least functional and able to keep things in sync between Windows and OS X?

In all honesty, I wish Logitech would its own version of the Orochi, basically something like the G700 only smaller.

Is 2.0 the version that available for the Deathadder 3.5g and 4g versions? My understanding of it is quite rudimentary, in that saves your settings in the cloud, and can be redownloaded elsewhere when needed for like a LAN party or tournament.

Sooner or later you have to throw your hands up in the air and say "No, this is ********". Because it is.

It's a ****ing mouse. You point and click with it. The USB HID (human interface device) specification supports up to 127 mouse buttons without additional software or "drivers". That means that a HID compliant mouse will "just work" without any additional intervention on behalf of the operating system or anything running under that.

So what do companies like Razor do?

They go out of their way to make sure that only the first two buttons (LMB and RMB) are HID compliant, and the rest are wrapped up in an often encrypted protocol that is proprietary to that manufacture. Oh, you want more then the basic functionality? Here, install our 200MB driver package that comes complete with a skinned and a horribly slow bloated user interface.

Synapse 2.0 is above the rest in that their Terms of Service basically lay it out as spyware, which it is. You pay a hefty premium for that shiny new Razor mouse, and what does it do? It logs your information (what games you're playing, how you're using your mouse) and then Razor can sell that information to whomever they want (after they've stripped out the identifying bits of course). It wasn't enough that the mouse cost you over $150. They're going to spy on you now, and lock your mouse to an online account so you can never resell it. Absolutely. ****ing. Brilliant.

The mouse market is so messed up right now, and anything running Synapse 2.0 is at the bottom of the barrel. I would avoid that stuff like the bubonic plague that it is. Input peripherals should "just work". The fact that you need to sign up for an online account to make it work is beyond pathetic- it's just sad, that with all the technology and all the knowledge we have only a few companies are still willing to produce a mouse that works without additional software.